It Ain't Over 'Till It's Over
by DegrassiGoddess
Summary: Leena has been given a second chance at life, but she can't take herself anymore. What will happen to her? Will she make it through, or will someone from her past come back to haunt her?
1. This is me now

Author note: Nothing in this story could ever possibly really happen in real life. If Leena and the Orphan was real, Leena would be spending life probably in a mental hospital... but I like my version better :) Enjoy!

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

Most writers or artist's would love the idea of working for a popular newspaper in Chicago.

Writer's are expressive. They are fluent in human body and emtions. They understand beauty dosen't have to be fake. They understand love can be a poison. They understand pain can feel good.

Writer's can take a unknown, un-named sould, and make that soul someone everyone want's to be. Take Kat in The Hunger Games, or Bella from Twilight.

Writer's are not afraid of letting their characters fall helplessly in love, become 100% insane, or be murdered.

Murder.

Murder.

Murder.

That's exactly what Leena had done. She killed a husband and a dad. One that loved her like she was his own daughter. He was broken from a still born. He has a disrespectful son and a deaf daughter, and a forgiving wife who looked past his cheating.

Cheating. Disrespect. Deaf. Forgiving.

None of the above is a reason to kill, injure, scar, or ruin a person, but she had done all of the above.

She killed a loving husband and father.

She remembered the night.

She remembered setting the whole tree house on fire, and watching it go all up in flames, while helpless little Danny was stuck without any other escape then to jump. He did, but that didn't help him. Sure, he wasn't going to die from cathing on fire and having his young flesh burned and melted off of him, leaving his organs out to roast, but his inside's were swelling, and filled with the bright red sticky liquid called blood. Blood that she was hungry for. If the ambulance was a second late, he would of died.

Yet, that wasn't enough. She wanted him gone. He was going to tell on her, and she couldn't have that.

John wouldn't love her anymore if he knew the truth.

When she was satisfied with the boys purple lips and breathless chest, she left him there to rot.

Kate couldn't handle it anymore. Leena deserved more then just a smack. She deserved to be tortured and killed for all the families she ruined.

John still brought her home though. All Leena wanted was one night of passion, and it would be all over. She would never hurt a soul again as long as she felt him within her, but he knew better. He yelled, and screamed.

A broken Leena had no idea what else to do. So she took the knife and stabbed him, letting him drain.

She took the gun and shot. She tried so hard to get rid of everyone. Anything. If she didn't get what she wanted, no one else should survive.

Most people thought she died that night. When you are telling the story though, you would think the whole family would die, as Leena was a cold blooded killer, but you would find out Kate kicked her in the neck. Broke it. She would sink lifelessly to the bottom of the pond, but if you knew anything about Leena, you would know that she is the master of trickery.

When Katie and Max left, the never told anyone where 'Esther' was.

Not until it was too late anyways.

When she slowly swam her way to the surface, she felt like she had been pierced all over her skin with frostbite. She saw no one. She heard no one. In the distance though, she saw the flashing lights. They were everywhere.

She ran. She ran as fast and as hard as she could. She lived life rough from then on. She hided in bars, gas stations... anything. She stayed with random truckers in theyre cars, just running from the police.

It was not the police who found her, or Kate even. It was the Saarne institude that dragged her back to Estonia. They tried everything, but nothing could help her. They thought about injecting her with a sweet, awful posion, but America had a better offer.

Apparently, American hospitals are beter then the ones in Estonia, because in three months, after talking to therapists everyday, many treatment options, sex addiction help, and taking a "special" medication, she was back to normal. Was that a good thing though?

She never knew the true meaning of hate until after four months of hospitalazation, she finally looked at herself in the mirror. She was different. Her medicine was specially made by her doctor. It had hormone's in it, and now, she didn't look like a child. Instead, she looked like a young teenager. She had breast's, and a longer legs and arms. She still looked a child though. She was really 37 years old now, but she looked much, much younger.

She looked older, more beautiful even. She couldn't swallow herself though. She was a killer. She killed two families, and ruined another. She couldn't go a day without thinking of little Max or Danny. She let go of the other families, but not Max and Danny. She couldn't handle the though of Max and Danny going off in the world, knowing she was the one who scared them and took away a person who loved them more then anything in the world.

After almost two years, and the law and the hospital decided to give her a second chance at life.

Now, she was working as a writer for a popular newspaper in Chicago. She live her life almost totally normal. Everywhere she went though, someone was always there. If she walked up the street, someone else was always right across the street. If she went shopping, someone was always in the same aisle. When she was at worked, the stayed near the cubical. The police were always watching her every move to make sure she didn't do something stupid. They looked over all grocery receipts, online orders, checked her bags, her room, which had no windows or vents, her cubical, and even her pockets for dangerous items. Someone even stayed in her own home with her!

She loved the freedom though. Looking at her, you would never tell what was going on in her life. The police were always hidden and no one knew she was being followed by police men everywhere except for her boss.

She just couln't stand her self. It took all the courage she had not to kill the little snowy faced girl she saw in the mirror. She wanted a second chance, but sometimes, she wished Kate's kicked had proved fatal.

This would not be the end of her story though. She had much more pain and fear to go through before she could let go of the past.


	2. Never Again

Oh God, she was late. Her boss had very little tolerance for this women, given her mental health and violent past. If he could find any reason to fire this women, he would use it. He especially didn't like all the attention she was getting. Though Leena was now a mentally stable (despite the few suicidal thoughts), many people, including men, continuously asked 'Who's the teenager?'. Leena still liked to embrace her young look with makeup, but her boss has his own opinion on that. Not that Leena cared. With the police at her house though, it made mornings a hell of a lot more stressful, and she couldn't risk being late _again._

The rushed 37 year old looked through her bag, remembering she still had to take her medicine. She pulled out her highly restricted, super special phone and dialed the officer that was following her this morning. She typed in the number and held it up to her ear, feeling the sounds vibrate deep into her ear. "Yeah Leena?" the officer asked, not caring to hide the fact that he wasn't a morning person. "Don't freak out," she said with her thick accent. She turned around to look at him and shook her vial. "I forgot to take it," she said. "Are you sure?" the annoying concern tone pierced her ear drum. "Yes," was all she said. "You can't keep missing your doses, Leena," he said. "Morning's are rushed... I'm sorry," she said. He hung up on her. This one guy was great in the afternoon's and was nice to everyone, but not in the morning's, and he always took it out on her.

As she tried to get the bottle of water out of her purse, she wasn't watching where she was, and hadn't realized that she was walking on the side walk to the high school, and that less then five yards away was little Danny boy. He has grown so much... so tall, so handsome. His hair had grown in a floppy skater boy look and wasn't so... perfect... anymore, but did little Danny boy recognize the know older, more mature Leena with her hair pulled back, her makeup, and buisness suit? The answer was yes.

What about little Max? She was just several yards away, playing soccer with her best friends.

Suddenly, Leena was stopped in her tracks, dropping her vial and water when the soccer ball came shooting up twoards her. She saw it, but couldn't move, as she was to suprised to see it. She put her hands up, but before they even got higher then her chest, the ball hit her anyways. She stayed frozen there for a moment, annoyed by the kids, annoyed by her morning, and annoyed this was going to deffinetly make her late. She turned around, grabbed the soccer ball from under the van it was now resting by, and turned to give it back to the kids.

"I'm sorry, did we hurt you? We didn't mean too!" a little girl exclaimed, running up to her. Oh, hell no. Danny wasn't going to let any of those little girls near _her._ "I'm fine," Leena said, handing the ball back to the little girl. When Max looked up at that moment, she frooze. Her? How is that possible? She died! In the old pond she used to play near. The only thing she could manage to move was her head, and when she turned to find her brother, she saw him running up to them. Leena hadn't noticed any of the older guys playing basketball, and hadn't even noticed Danny's bright red shorts flopping around while he ran. She just turned back to her vial and water bottle.

Danny needed to protect these girls. They were all in danger as far as he was concerned. How does a ghost come back in a form that is so unlike the actual person they were, he wondered. Esther never wore suits, and she didn't wear makeup. Well, not like that. It didn't matter. He didn't ever want to hear the name again. If it was in a book, he would refuse to read it. If it was in a movie, he refused to watch. He wouldn't friend anyone named Esther, and that was that. He hated her, inside and out. He wasn't going to let her get away with anything, and no matter what, he _will _kill her before she kills him. He motioned for the little girls to go back before turning his guns on her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he shouted. How rude, she thought. She was walking to work and these obnoxious teenagers were just going to shout things like this to her? She looked at the group of guys playing basketball, but they were all confused and huddled together, staring at Danny. She followed their gaze to meet a furriated Danny.

"You fucking died! How the hell are you here?" he asked. "What do you want?" he asked while he started to sob while he fell to his knees. Oh, no no no no no. Not him. Anyone but the Coleman's. She looked to see Max bursting into tears. Shit. This was her worst nightmare. They were emotional wrecks, devastated just by the sight of her. She didn't know what to do... should she try to explain? No, they would never believe that cold-blooded killer Esther was suddenly a put together reporter. Should she just go? Yes, talking would just make it worst. She strode on by, just hoping they would think they mistaked a random girl for a deathly figure of their past. That would never happen though. Danny and Max weren't idiots. They saw pictures of her before. They knew everything about her! "Esther!" he shouted. She froze. If she was going to let go, she _had _to be cold. She couldn't hold these guilty feeling anymore. She slowly turned.

"I am not Esther. I will _never_ be Esther again," she said calmly. She kept going, weakened by the cries of Max, stabbed by the remarks of Danny.

How can Leena move on if she takes this route everyday?! She can't handle this! She was going to have to walk on the other side of the street, or better yet, take a different route. This was the shortest way, but she could just wake up earlier.

Anyway that she decided best, she felt deep in her heart, this wasn't going to be the last time she saw them, but then again, maybe...possibly...that wasn't a bad thing.


	3. Don't Open The Door

Oh Lord, what was she doing? Five hours of basically stalking to find this house. The Coleman's new house. Well, it was where they lived now anyways. It was near a lake, and it was big, like a mini mansion. It had a three floors but wasn't very long. It had a medium sized kitchen and living room, but gorgeous detailing. It even had a elevator. It was beautiful, but was coming here the right decission? Why would she even think about coming here? There was no way Max or Danny would let her get a word in, and Kate would never let her near them again. How could she talk to them? She killed their loved one. No amount of words or apologies could make up for it. Good thing is that she was alone. The police finally decided she totally sane. A stupid idea to some, but totally legal apparently. She was more then okay with it. Even though that was a big deal in itself, she knew that that wouldn't change what happened or what was going to happen. When it came to the Coleman's, being totally free was just a little victory. When she could get this off her chest, she would be happy.

She slowly stepped up to the door, her high heels clacking on the cement. She didn't bring a bag, her pants had no pockets, she wanted to make as clear as she could that she had nothing on her and she wouldn't hurt them. In her hand she only held her house key, a copy of her paper from the hospital, and her medicine. She knew that if they wouldn't let her talk or if they got violent even, she would be able to drop the paper and leave. At least there would be something for them. She didn't want forgiveness. She just didn't want them to be afraid of her. If they could see she was sane and finally in a good place, she would be more then happy.

One knock. Two knocks. Three knocks. Oh no, she was going to throw up! What was she thinking?! She almost killed these people and now she want's to have a rational conversation with them?! No, that wasn't going to work. She got the paper together, ready to set them down and run, but someone was already opening the door. On instinct, she jerked the door back close. "Don't open the door!" she screamed. Just leave the papers Leena, just leave the papers, but it was too late. Danny boy could tell who it was. Through the little tiny window in the door, by the voice, by the panic. By then, he was already screaming for his mom who was just a fer meters away. "I told you she's back!" he cried, the sight of a big unfamiliar stack of paper being pushed through the mail slot on the door. "Esther!" Kate screamed, getting closer and closer and closer to the door. "Don't call me that!" she cried, her voice shaking with fear. What would happen when they saw her? They would hurt her! Kill her even, but Leena was in panic and couldn't think straight enough to shove the paper all the way through the slot. At least not in time before Kate opened it.

She jet. She was _not _going to stay here. She couldn't bear being around them. Just read the papers, she thought to herself. Please, just read the papers. She didn't get very far before she hit a bench in the quaint downtown area, setteled down behind it, and let loose with her tears.


	4. I'm Not Scared

"You promised you would help, Leena," her doctor said in the lobby of the mental hospital. "Yeah, that was before I found out that Max and Danny's school was going to be here!" she replied. "All the more reason to do it. You would be giving your story, and they'll listen to how you have changed," he said. "Maybe it'll ease their mind," he said. "Maybe. It also might get them closer to killing me," I said. "I guess we'll find out," he said, walking to the door to greet the school kids. The senior class walked in, followed by the juniors, and finally Max's class, but looking through the crowd, she couldn't see him. She mistaked several boys for him, but never found him. Following right behind Danny's high school was Max's middle school since they started at sixth grade, not seventh. Max looked up from her chat with her friends and noticed Leena watching her from distance. She was dressed in the same clothes as the workers and her hair was braided. She was taller, and looked much older, confusing little Max. Leena continued to watch from her spot in the hall way as Max's class slowly came her way. Max's dirty blonde hair bounced when she walked. Realizing she was staring, she looked off in the distance, feeling Max's stare.

When Max approached Leena, she tugged on her hand. Leena looked down suprised. Max looked up at her and simply waved. Leena gave a quick smile before Max's teacher rushed her down the hall.

Two Hours Later

Leena was standing on the stage in the back yard of the hospital. It wasn't huge, but they set up a mini stage and had all the school all sat out in front of the stage. It was time Leena shared her story. She was looking around the group, trying to find Max and Danny. They both looked pretty uneasy at the moment, but they still looked up in fasination. She took a deep breath in that lasted a smidge too long.

"Hello, my name is Leena," she said, hearing a few 'hello's in the crowd from the kids.

"I am a ex-patient of Miller H. Greg Mental Hospital. I was born with growth restriction causing me to stop growing at a young age. Right now, I look pretty young. I'm actually thirty seven years old," she said, hearing a few whispers from the crowd.

"I came hear after being sent here from a different hospital. They ran out of options. They gave up on me. I did many horrible things that I shouldn't have done. I've hurt many people," she said, looking at Danny and Max who were now crying.

"I have caused a lot of distress, and I aplogize to those I have hurt. When I was hear, I found my way through medication, art, and writting. Thanks to medication, I have actually grown quite a lot. People always used to think I was nine years old. Now I can get away with seventeen. I'm okay with that," she said, walking to the side of the stage to look down at Danny.

"Because if I had the choice, to go back and do those terrible things all over again, and again, and again, and again, and one day magically wake up and look like a normal women, I wouldn't do it," she said, staring in his eyes, watching the tears fall from his eyes. At this point, she noticed her own eyes filled with tears.

"I'm Leena, and the last time I had a outburst because of my mental illness was a year and a half ago, and thanks to Miller H. Greg Mental Hospital, I know work full time as a journalist, have my own apartment, and able to live freely," she said in the mic.

She was the last person to talk, so when she finished her speech, everyone started standing to leave. She stood in the yard for not two minutes before a familiar floppy brown hair started running twoards her. She frooze, not sure of his reasoning.

"Leena," he barely spitted out. Then, out of nowhere, he leaned in and hugged her. She automatically dug her hands out from under his and held him around the shoulders.

"Daniel, I'm sorry, and I know it can't take away what I did, it can't stop stress, and it can't replace your fathers love, and I don't expect you to forgive me. I just don't want you to be scared of me. You don't have to understand me, you don't have to talk to me, we don't have to be around eachother, but please, don't be afraid of me," she said when they broke apart.

"Leena!" she heard a little girl shout. Max was running over, eyes still streaming, and gave her a hug, surprising Leena yet again. She laughed out of nervousness.

"She can talk?" she asked Danny.

"Only when you look at her when you talk. She can see your lips," he said, pulling Max in himself. Leena looked into Max's eyes.

"I hope that your brother shares with you what I told him. Max, I'm sorry, and I know that's not okay or enough, but I want you do know that there is not a day that goes by when I don't think about you two and regret what I did," she said.

"They really let you out that easy?" Danny asked.

"No, I had go through a long time of constantly being followed by police, and they are still at my work, but I get to be alone most of the time," she said.

"I'm finally stable Leena. Congratulations," he said.

"Thank you," she said.

"No more fears?" she asked.

He looked at Max and she shook her head.

"Not anymore," he said, returning his gaze to Leena.


End file.
